How do you produce a deep sound on impact?

[supertrex]

Just notice when Im hitting a new ball the sound of impact from my racquet there is no deep sound. but when hitting a farely warmed up ball I get this deep sound pop when I hit it.

But I saw the Pros do it on a regular new openned balls, they can still make that deep sound on impact. How do they do that?

Edit: Outdoor courts only using fresh new ball out of the can.

 

[10nistennis]

They hit hard.

 

[LuckyR]

Clear your throat so you can reproduce the sound...

 

[BullDogTennis]

they swing extremely fast, and put extreme amount of top spin on the ball.

 

[Wes_Loves_Dunlop]

one way is to hit cleanly right on the sweetspot. dont hit with too much topspin, hit flatter. swing fast. thats about it

 

[nousername]

hitting "hard" does equate to a nice sound on impact... but hitting hard has little to do with "swinging hard" or "swinging fast", which is one of the main misconceptions of intermediate tennis and below.

shots with power, speed, spin, and pop has FAR more to do with proper body positioning and footwork than "swinging hard" or "swinging fast". beginners will argue heatedly with this, and so be it ... but experience will teach otherwise.

the point of all of this: if you want to generate a nice sounding POP, then ... get your WEIGHT into the ball and forget about swinging hard (as others have suggested). i guarantee if you get your body and feet in the right position, you will generate nice heavy ball, with speed, spin, AND a nice sounding POP ... all WITHOUT swinging hard.

tennis strokes are about efficiency ... i.e. doing the most with the strokes you have. it's much easier to transfer the momentum of your whole body thru good footwork and body positioning than you will EVER transfer with your measly little arm by "swinging hard". swinging hard/fast is icing on the cake, but FIRST you need to learn how to position your body for optimum power/pop.

(... it goes without saying ... but of course, the other condition is you must hit it cleanly ... no shanks.)

 

[Bagumbawalla]

There are many things that contribute to making "the sound".

All things being equal, looser strings will sound deeper than tight strings. A slightly older ball will sound deeper than a new one. Playing in an enclosed area will produce more sound than playing in a wide-open court. Hitting flatter will produce more "pop" than lots of spin. Hitting the center of your strings will produce more effect than hitting outside the sweet-spot. Having better form and hitting more solidly will create more sound than hitting late/early/slowly.

It is also, possible there are other factors-- type of string, stiffness of racket-- but those would have to be checked out.

 

[Nanshiki]

A hard flat shot will make more noise than a fast, spinny shot, even if they both seem close to equally "powerful." The sound comes from the ball being deformed and reforming... which is why flat shots make more noise than topspin or slice shots. It's also why a first serve makes more noise than a second serve.

If you can't make the noise by serving, you're not at a level where you should expect to be able to generate the 'pop' that a pro does. OTOH, they don't always make that noise... if they're just defending or counter-punching.

 

[adams_1]

Court mics. Get your court set up with all the mics and cameras that are used to televise matches, should only cost an arm and a leg.

 

[BullDogTennis]

hitting "hard" does equate to a nice sound on impact... but hitting hard has little to do with "swinging hard" or "swinging fast", which is one of the main misconceptions of intermediate tennis and below.

shots with power, speed, spin, and pop has FAR more to do with proper body positioning and footwork than "swinging hard" or "swinging fast". beginners will argue heatedly with this, and so be it ... but experience will teach otherwise.

the point of all of this: if you want to generate a nice sounding POP, then ... get your WEIGHT into the ball and forget about swinging hard (as others have suggested). i guarantee if you get your body and feet in the right position, you will generate nice heavy ball, with speed, spin, AND a nice sounding POP ... all WITHOUT swinging hard.

tennis strokes are about efficiency ... i.e. doing the most with the strokes you have. it's much easier to transfer the momentum of your whole body thru good footwork and body positioning than you will EVER transfer with your measly little arm by "swinging hard". swinging hard/fast is icing on the cake, but FIRST you need to learn how to position your body for optimum power/pop.

(... it goes without saying ... but of course, the other condition is you must hit it cleanly ... no shanks.)

so pros with the insane racquet head speed has nothing to do with them being able to hit the ball extremely hard? and i can BUNT the ball in perfect position and hit insane winners? wow, if its that simple, ill go try it.

im not arguing that if you don't have good positioning your never gonna hit the ball well, or at least where you want it. but the question was how do you get the POP sound. and it has to do with a fast racquet head speed and hitting the ball cleanly(on the sweatspot)

 

[nousername]

so pros with the insane racquet head speed has nothing to do with them being able to hit the ball extremely hard? and i can BUNT the ball in perfect position and hit insane winners? wow, if its that simple, ill go try it.

no, that is not what i said ... i'll quote verbatim:

hitting "hard" does equate to a nice sound on impact... but hitting hard has little to do with "swinging hard" or "swinging fast", which is one of the main misconceptions of intermediate tennis and below.

shots with power, speed, spin, and pop has FAR more to do with proper body positioning and footwork than "swinging hard" or "swinging fast". beginners will argue heatedly with this, and so be it ... but experience will teach otherwise.

the point of all of this: if you want to generate a nice sounding POP, then ... get your WEIGHT into the ball and forget about swinging hard (as others have suggested). i guarantee if you get your body and feet in the right position, you will generate nice heavy ball, with speed, spin, AND a nice sounding POP ... all WITHOUT swinging hard.

tennis strokes are about efficiency ... i.e. doing the most with the strokes you have. it's much easier to transfer the momentum of your whole body thru good footwork and body positioning than you will EVER transfer with your measly little arm by "swinging hard". swinging hard/fast is icing on the cake, but FIRST you need to learn how to position your body for optimum power/pop.

(... it goes without saying ... but of course, the other condition is you must hit it cleanly ... no shanks.)

again, i'm not going to sit here and argue with you, b/c you won't realize until you start doing it. power in tennis IS about using your body mass and the energy of the ball. YES, racket head speed contributes to power, BUT racket head speed is wasted energy if it is not coupled with proper positioning. it is much easier to generate power by getting your body in a solid position than swinging your arm really fast at the ball.

it seems everyone is saying "ball pop" is related to racket head speed. i disagree. i think ball pop is more related to hitting a clean quality ball than simply total racket head speed.

as for bunting, that is a little bit of an extreme way to describe what i'm talking about, but the concept is sound. if you are a player seeking more power, most will do very well to shorten their swings and work on their footwork and position RATHER than working of more racket head speed. consider pros returning serve: the bunt all the time. BUNTING is a good way to describe what they do. of course, pro serves are faster, but the principle still applies to groundies: short strokes, use the speed of the ball, and position your body solidly ... soooo ... yes, you should practice "bunting" for winners. agassi and safin do it (did it) all the time.

 

[Blake0]

so pros with the insane racquet head speed has nothing to do with them being able to hit the ball extremely hard? and i can BUNT the ball in perfect position and hit insane winners? wow, if its that simple, ill go try it.

im not arguing that if you don't have good positioning your never gonna hit the ball well, or at least where you want it. but the question was how do you get the POP sound. and it has to do with a fast racquet head speed and hitting the ball cleanly(on the sweatspot)

Have you seen pro's when warming up hitting with hard pop noises even though they're obviously not trying to swing their fastest (especially noticable on serves)?

Tennis has a lot to do with efficiency and timing, which is how pros get effortless power when they warm up. I'm not saying other stuff isn't important, like clean contact, footwork, body positioning, anticipation, etc are all very important, but efficiency and timing are all of these things combined really..if you think about it.

So anyways back to the main point..how can you hit harder so that you make the pop noise when you hit? First off, make your technique on your strokes more efficient. How can you do that? watch the pros, watch what they do to make their swings more efficient. They all use their whole body to get more racket head speed, and time it in such a way so each part of their body is used effectively to transfer maximum energy with little energy loss. How can you do that? Practice. Go and hit and try new things, try to use your whole body in a way so that it gets used to its maximum potential. Then the next thing you can do is build up these core muscles and get them stronger and moving faster. You can go try to figure this out yourself, or get a coach to help you.
Next thing is timing, what can you do to try to get yourself into perfect positioning everytime? ofcourse noone can get to perfect position all the time, but i can pretty much guarantee that pros get to perfect positioning more times then a club player would, that too at a higher pace. So how can you get to perfect positioning? Work on your footwork/anticipation/ and ball judgement..by practicing..hitting for hours..days..years.

I don't want to make this into a too long post but, you should get the idea..but what nousername said is true..swinging hard is the icing on the cake..thats how pro's are able to hit even harder when they play matches.

 

[cghipp]

Just play indoors - every shot sounds great, no matter how bad it is!

 

[tacotanium]

super fast swing speed racket with not too much top spin. the more top spin the less deep it sounds.

Just play indoors - every shot sounds great, no matter how bad it is!

haha. thats true, it echos.

 

[topher.juan]

Clear your throat so you can reproduce the sound...

+1 and make sure you have fully inhaled, that's key. When your lungs at full capacity your chest will boom at impact; the force of the ball hitting the racquet travels through your arm, hitting your open chest like a taiko drum.

 

[supertrex]

Blake0 and Nousername - thanks for the very informative reply.

 

[aimr75]

There are many things that contribute to making "the sound".

All things being equal, looser strings will sound deeper than tight strings. A slightly older ball will sound deeper than a new one. Playing in an enclosed area will produce more sound than playing in a wide-open court. Hitting flatter will produce more "pop" than lots of spin. Hitting the center of your strings will produce more effect than hitting outside the sweet-spot. Having better form and hitting more solidly will create more sound than hitting late/early/slowly.

It is also, possible there are other factors-- type of string, stiffness of racket-- but those would have to be checked out.

I think these are valid points.. outside of technique, different strings produce different sounds and at different tensions etc..

Im pretty much a hack but here are some examples of me hitting with different setups / racquets.. same courts and camera:

prestige mid strung with msv focus hex full at 50 / 48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgHEItukroE

k90 strung with cyberflash / cyberpower at 56 / 54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDtXjKXChC4

k90 strung with nat gut mains, BBO cross cant remember tension
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKCaLBgJqDw

fairly different popping sounds.. at the end of the day though, its pretty much irrelevant how the hitting sounds relative to every other aspect

 

[supertrex]

I think these are valid points.. outside of technique, different strings produce different sounds and at different tensions etc..

Im pretty much a hack but here are some examples of me hitting with different setups / racquets.. same courts and camera:

prestige mid strung with msv focus hex full at 50 / 48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgHEItukroE

k90 strung with cyberflash / cyberpower at 56 / 54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDtXjKXChC4

k90 strung with nat gut mains, BBO cross cant remember tension
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKCaLBgJqDw

fairly different popping sounds.. at the end of the day though, its pretty much irrelevant how the hitting sounds relative to every other aspect

Are you hitting with ball that is fresh from the can?

I know some string setup also contribute for this " best sound pop "

Im hunting down how to hear that " deep sound " on impact on a freshly openned can.

When I saw pro player in Miami open practicing, see them open a new can and they still able to produce that deep sound. ie Nadal, Federer, Djoker, even Ivanovic.

But again thanks for peeps who invested their time explaning some of the variety involving on how to produce that deep sound. ( Fresh balls only )

 

[darthpwner]

They hit the ball hard but also the sound varies per player. The cleaner hitters make a deeper thud, while the dirty hitters make the ball sort of hiss

 

[BullDogTennis]

no, that is not what i said ... i'll quote verbatim:




again, i'm not going to sit here and argue with you, b/c you won't realize until you start doing it. power in tennis IS about using your body mass and the energy of the ball. YES, racket head speed contributes to power, BUT racket head speed is wasted energy if it is not coupled with proper positioning. it is much easier to generate power by getting your body in a solid position than swinging your arm really fast at the ball.

it seems everyone is saying "ball pop" is related to racket head speed. i disagree. i think ball pop is more related to hitting a clean quality ball than simply total racket head speed.

as for bunting, that is a little bit of an extreme way to describe what i'm talking about, but the concept is sound. if you are a player seeking more power, most will do very well to shorten their swings and work on their footwork and position RATHER than working of more racket head speed. consider pros returning serve: the bunt all the time. BUNTING is a good way to describe what they do. of course, pro serves are faster, but the principle still applies to groundies: short strokes, use the speed of the ball, and position your body solidly ... soooo ... yes, you should practice "bunting" for winners. agassi and safin do it (did it) all the time.

my ball has quite a bit of "pop" although i've never really thought about it until this thread came up. i still think your confusing what im saying a little bit. you keep sayin like to get good pop you need to really put your body INTO the ball, which i completely agree with. but the more body you put into the ball the more racquet head speed your gonna get. i've never seen anyone be able to hit the ball very hard by just "arming" it. its all kinetic energy, it starts with the plant of the feet, middle is when the torso opens up a little, then finishes with the ball coming off the racquet, of course theres other parts in the middle, but you get the point..

another thing about pros getting all the pop when you watch them thats also because of the massive stands there playing in. the sound bounces off the stands all the way up until it goes out the top, or if its indoor till it fades.

 

[Anton]

you want a deep sound?

Lead the racket up (or use one with good head mass)

Some very stiff frames will need alot of lead

 

[aptennis91]

you want a deep sound?

Lead the racket up (or use one with good head mass)

Some very stiff frames will need alot of lead

yeah.. when I leaded my racquet up I got the 'pro' sound..
An interesting thing to observe is to watch matches of Federer and Nadal (Example: AO 2009) and just listen to each shot. I bet you could close your eyes and determine who hit the shot.
Wait.. might not work as well because of Nadal's grunting. but you get my point..